Tag: free agency

The white noise around the Browns

Wide receiver Jarvis Landry arrives in Cleveland from Miami in exchange for two draft picks.

The idea of hope must be dangerous for Cleveland Browns fans. They haven’t had much to be hopeful for, really since they restarted as a franchise in 1999.

They would also have a fear of hype around the team. Last year’s draft saw them trade back to collect three first round picks which they used on Myles Garrett, Jabrill Peppers and David Njoku.

The haul was met with almost universal praise and the addition of quarterback Deshone Kizer on day two saw their draft class as a foundation for improvement in 2017.

Of course, the group of rookies proved only to be the foundation for more losing as the Browns outdid their 1-15 2016 campaign, completing the first winless season since the Detroit Lions in 2008 leading to another top pick in this upcoming draft.

Despite the positive draft grades and general sense of optimism coming out of Philadelphia from Browns camp, the post-draft hot takes didn’t bear fruit on the field, at all.

So, hype around Cleveland with this current administration, which somehow largely remained intact after their winless season, is toxic and that’s scary as the Browns moved to the centre of the NFL universe on the weekend, completing a slew of trades which lit up social media.

Cleveland completed a series of trades with all arrivals and departures summarised in the tweet below;

 

They added a competent and solid quarterback in Tyrod Taylor, a consistent and productive receiver in Jarvis Landry and a young, talented cornerback (who will play safety) Damarious Randall. All this for a few picks and the above mentioned Kizer, who was shuttled off to Green Bay after one season.

In a vacuum these are decent trades. I like Taylor, he’s a good option as a bridge QB for one year, the length remaining on his contract. Landry’s catching stats are impressive, without being a real deep threat and Randall has 10-interceptions across his three-year career. Three starters for a bunch of draft picks and a quarterback who was never going to start again.

Even the change in direction of improving via trades can be commended. The Browns have cap space and draft picks to burn, so go get better. It beats overspending for mediocre starters in free agency.

However, these trades are the dawn of anything, they don’t mark a change in the Browns’ fortunes, they’re not hurtling in the right direction. They just made a bunch of trades, that’s it.

On cue, the immediate reaction crowd announced Cleveland’s moves as the start of the new generation. General manager John Dorsey the cowboy, throwing his chips around, not afraid to take risks.

Trades are great, but any revolution in Cleveland begins on draft night, where they have two opportunities inside the top four picks to land the quarterback of their dreams. After plenty of misses, this year they must hit. This will be the seminal moment of 2018 for the Browns, not a bunch of trades before free agency opens.

For all the love and hype the Browns have received after recent draft hauls, all they’ve really accomplished is whiffing on grabbing their next franchise quarterback. Trading out of the draft spots used on Carson Wentz and Deshaun Watson.

A real new dawn will come from wins on the field and the star college quarterback the Browns pick, hopefully for fans sake at number one, will be the cornerstone of that.

Even this pick will only be the beginning, Cleveland has an achingly long road ahead of rebuilding and future trades will no doubt be a major part of this.

Instant reaction is how the world works in 2018, but save your proclamations of a return to glory at the Dawg Pound for much, much later down the road, hot takes now, mean nothing.

Muscle Hamster departs Tampa Bay after six frustrating years

Doug Martin was released by the Buccaneers and is now a free agent.

On Wednesday Tampa Bay announced they had released running back Doug Martin after six seasons with the team.

It brings to end one of the strangest tenures of any player at any team.

At his best, Martin was one of the most productive running backs in the league, at his worst he was an injury prone player who battled substance abuse.

In 2015 he finished second in the running title, only behind Adrian Peterson, finishing with 1,402 yards and six-touchdowns. In his rookie year, he ran for 1,454 yards and 11-touchdowns. That saw him become a finalist in the Rookie of the Year award (losing out to Robert Griffin III) and earned him a Pro Bowl trip.

His rookie year also included a career day where he rushed for 251-yards and four-touchdowns against Oakland, becoming only the second player to rush for 250+ yards and four TD’s in NFL history.

In his four other seasons with the Bucs, he failed to rush for more than 500-yards and score more than three-touchdowns. He also never started more than 11-games. It was a frustrating, rollercoaster ride that was always coming to an end this year.

It’s interesting to think about how the former Boise State product will be remembered as a Buccaneer. His two full seasons were so good it always allowed him a little extra leverage from fans and the organisation.

After being drafted in the first round in the 2012 draft, Martin immediately became the team’s starting running back, rushing for 95-yards in his debut against Carolina. He had his first breakout game on Thursday night in Minnesota, rushing for 135-yards and a touchdown and a week later set several franchise records in that game against the Raiders.

He battled through two-injury plagued seasons before his 2015 renaissance and always seemed like a popular player among the team and with supporters.

Despite his inconsistency and injury troubles, Martin earned himself a five-year $35.75 million extension after his successful 2015 season, which included $15 million in guaranteed money. Big coin in the modern NFL where running backs struggle to get paid.

The team also held onto him after his four-game suspension for testing positive to Adderall and his announcement that he would enter a treatment facility. They easily could have cut Martin considering his suspension voided all the guaranteed money he was owed. However, the team kept him for one more year and at the time it seemed like a sensible move.

Now though, the Bucs had little choice but to cut the 29-year old and he finds himself as a free agent for the first time in his career.

He has always been a fun back to watch, short in stature but so hard to bring down, with a quick burst and an ability to find the hole in traffic. A little ball of muscle, making the nickname he earned at college so fitting.

He’s also battled through being stuck on a team constantly mired in mediocrity. Barely sniffing the playoffs and being a member of struggling offences under a carousel of head coaches and offensive coordinators.

It certainly wasn’t coincidental that in Martin’s two best season, the Bucs’ offence as a whole was much more productive. In his rookie year, quarterback Josh Freeman had his best statistical season and 2015 marked the arrival of Jameis Winston who threw for over 4,000. That year Martin and Charles Sims, who may also be released this off-season, formed one of the best running back tandems in the league.

But as has become custom in Tampa over the past decade, his brilliance was always fleeting and fans went into each season “hoping” for the best, not expecting, which is an issue considering Martin was the team’s featured running back.

Martin will find another home and could certainly return to his best in a new environment and if it’s anything like he produced with Tampa Bay, he’ll be a valuable pick-up.

His best was as good as anyone, the Buccaneers just didn’t get to see enough of it.

2017 NFL Free Agency Day One Musings

Cleveland came to Houston’s rescue and traded for Brock Osweiler, “buying” a second-round pick.

Surely somewhere deep inside their Park Avenue headquarters, the NFL thanks their lucky stars they have the Cleveland Browns and curse the day they let the first incarnation of this treasured franchise to leave for Baltimore. The Browns were the worst team in 2016, yet are one of the best at creating headlines

The opening day of the 2017 NFL Free Agency period and the start of the New Year in the league already steals the sporting headlines, however the Browns added the biggest storyline which sent Twitter and the NFL world into meltdown.

Brock Osweiler, the $72 million mistake in Houston, was traded to Cleveland on the eve of the new NFL year and league Twitter initially destroyed the Browns, understandably, and then suddenly began praising Paul DePodesta and the front office for the innovative deal which sent Osweiler and a second-round pick from the Texans to the Browns for a 4th and a 6th round pick in the upcoming draft.

The deal has now been labelled as “creative” and considered a win-win for both franchises as Cleveland essentially paid $18 million for a second-round pick. The deal does make sense for both teams, but it’s hardly a game-changer.

Rich Smith looks like a magician, having now washed his hands clean of the disaster that was signing Osweiler to the monster deal last off-season, however the team is still without a capable starting quarterback and sound out of the race for Tony Romo who looks destined to end up in Denver.

The Browns get another second rounder this year to make it 22 picks across the next two drafts. It means another dart to throw at the dartboard and knowing Cleveland’s history, there’s no guarantee they nail the pick, or any pick for that matter.

The caveat is if they can pull off a trade, which has to be the strategy, however their main target doesn’t seem available for any price. Jimmy Garoppolo is unlikely to be traded, no matter what Cleveland offers.

The main question and where Cleveland could have improved the deal would have been whether they could have squeezed more out of Houston to help free up the cap space Osweiler was stealing next season. But, nevertheless the deal is done and the Browns livened up free agency once again.

The trade kicked off the new NFL year; however the action began well before 8am AEST time and now on to other matters, from a typically jam-packed opening day of free agency.

Jags gonna jag

Jacksonville goes all out to spend as much money as possible on beefing up their defence. Nope, it’s not 2016, or 2015, or 2014. The Jaguars have broken the bank once again, splashing the cash on a number of high profile defensive free agents. They began by handing Calais Campbell a massive $14 million per year deal to beef up an already loaded, money-wise, defensive line and then grabbed free agency darling A.J. Bouye from their division rivals for $67.5 million over five-years and Barry Church from Dallas to add starters in their secondary. At some point all this spending will generate some wins for the struggling AFC South outfit.

Washington are imploding, which is not like them

The off-season drama at Redskins Park is just as crazy as usual with an exodus of team members, both on and off the field.

Having already lost one wide receiver in Pierre Garcon to San Francisco, DeSean Jackson will line up across from Mike Evans in Tampa Bay, as he accepted a $35-million deal over three-years. Defensive tackle Chris Baker joined the speedy wide receiver in moving south to Tampa and their quarterback drama continued to roll on as Kirk Cousins continued rumblings of his desire to move to San Fran.

Lastly, the saga of Scot McCloughan finally came to an end in Landover as he was officially fired having already been driven out of the building by a toxic front office which even went and tarnished his reputation on the way out.

Oh, at least they did re-sign Jay Gruden for two more years.

NFC West contrasts

There were a lot of comings and goings in a division which struggled overall in 2016, with Arizona and San Francisco leading the news.

The Cardinals lost a host of defensive starters with Campbell being joined by safety pair Tony Jefferson and D.J. Swearinger who left for Baltimore and Washington respectively. They are also poised to lose linebacker Kevin Minter, although did acquire safety Antoine Bethea from the Niners and had already re-signed pass rusher Chandler Jones for five more seasons.

San Francisco was the opposite and has thrown money around to simply add capable starters. Including their own re-signings, the 49ers have added 12 players, with some costing a fortune. They can pair newly added Garcon with Aldrick Robinson to provide some weapons for whichever former Chicago quarterbacks starts, with Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley both moving to Santa Clara.

The Niners have also added linebacker Malcolm Smith, defensive tackle Earl Mitchell, tight end Logan Paulsen and full back Kyle Juszczyk, who becomes the ninth highest paid rusher in the league, receiving $21-million over four-years.

Mike Glennon gets paid and Chicago fans hold their breath

No news on Romo or Garoppolo on day one, however the next big name on the quarterback off-season list found a new home. The Buccaneers back-up has found his starting job with the Bears and got a massive payday to go with his promotion, a three-year deal at an average of $14.5 million. It’s no doubt a massive gamble to throw starting QB money to a guy who hasn’t started a game since 2014, but Glennon has at least shown some signs.

The big issue facing the Bears and Glennon is their lack of receivers and the loss of Alshon Jeffery, who signed a one-year deal worth $14 million in Philadelphia, won’t help that. They did add former Pittsburgh wideout Markus Wheaton and tight end Dion Sims from Miami, but it’s not exactly an imposing receiver group and Glennon isn’t going to play at a decent level without the talent around him.

Other titbits

– Safety Micah Hyde left Green Bay for Buffalo and looms a decent signing for a team which also lost cornerback Stephon Gilmore to New England.

– Speaking of New England, your candidate for departing Patriot who re-joins the team before the end of the deal he just signed is Logan Ryan. The depth cornerback signed a massive $30 million deal over three-years with Tennessee and will be back under Bill Belichick by 2019, for half the cost.

– Typically quiet running back market with Seattle providing the main news as they sniff around both Eddie Lacy and Jamaal Charles. All quiet on the Adrian Peterson front, the same for Latavius Murray and LeGarrette Blount.

– Jay Cutler was released by Chicago, finally.

Taking a ride on the QB carousel

Both Kirk Cousins and Tyrod Taylor could have new homes in 2017.

Anyone familiar with Face Off, the 1997 insane action thriller starring a bonkers Nicholas Cage and even more bonkers John Travolta would know the dangers of carousels.

Slight spoilers if you haven’t seen it by now. In the opening scene of the movie, Travolta is enjoying a carousel ride with his young son, when Cage arrives with his sniper rifle and guns down the small boy with the bullet passing through Travolta on the way.

Now a scenario like this is unlikely, however carousels are still dangerous, especially in the NFL where quarterback carousels can spin around and around, for some teams across multiple decades.

It isn’t hard to glean from the 2016 season alone that there is a sever dearth of QB talent in the league. From the 32 teams, there’s maybe 10 absolute franchise quarterbacks and maybe eight or so more who can reach that level or are at least adequate.

There’s also a large chunk of teams stuck in an endless circle, either without a competent quarterback or without a QB at all (San Francisco).

Two teams which sit somewhere in the middle are Washington and Buffalo. Kirk Cousins and Tyrod Taylor are around the same level of quarterback. For the Redskins, Cousins has already led the team to the playoffs and demonstrated a clear ability to be a solid starter, capable of playing at, or near a Pro Bowl level.

In Buffalo, Taylor may not be as accomplished a passer as Cousins, however has the athletic traits to compliment a decent arm and solid playmaking ability.

Neither of these guys loom as potential top-10 passers, however with enough around them, they could lead their respective franchises on playoff runs and, if the cards fell the right way, even to a Championship Game or a Super Bowl. The main point being, there are worse options available.

And yet both teams are refusing to lock up their starting quarterbacks and one seems increasingly likely to leave the team this off season.

For the second straight year, Washington has chosen to snap the franchise tag on Cousins. This is the first-time multiple franchise tags have been used on a quarterback in successive years and strongly indicates the Skins’ reluctance to lock up Cousins for the long-term.

Cousins threw for a career-best 4.917-yards in 2016, adding 25-touchdowns and 12-interceptions. These numbers took his past two-season total to over 9,000-yards and 54-touchdowns. Those are quality figures and although the team struggled down the stretch and missed the playoffs, Cousins played at a consistent level.

Jay Gruden has publicly sung the praises of his 27-year old passer and Cousins fared favourably on Football Outsiders rankings, finishing fifth in DVOA. Yet no long-term deal, for the second season in a row.

Now the major barrier you would assume keeping Dan Snyder from handing out a big deal to Cousins is the required pay packet it will take. Under the franchise tag, he’ll earn around $24 million and any long-term deal would average out to over $20 million at a minimum. That’s par for the course for quarterbacks in the 2017 market.

For a second, ignore all the reasons why Washington should not pay up for Cousins and consider this, what superior options do they have?

The reason there is a lack of QB talent in the NFL is because there aren’t many good quarterbacks. Just a look at the free agency market shows pickings are slim and the only even competent signal caller who will join the market shortly is Tony Romo, who is 37 in April and is one injury away from having his bones disintegrate.

Going with Kirk Cousins is Washington’s only logical solution for next season and the seasons beyond that, it’s the logical solution for any length of time that would be covered in a long-term deal. There aren’t any better options out there.

Which brings it back to the Bills. They’ve gone even further than Washington and with a new coach in charge could move on from Taylor this very off-season.

Buffalo’s quarterback of the past two seasons was surprisingly benched for EJ Manuel of all people in Week 17 and Sean McDermott hasn’t exactly been enamoured with the dual threat playmaker since he arrived at Orchard Park from Carolina.

Taylor is a clear level or two below Cousins, however has been a consistently solid starter since 2015. He’s thrown only a combined 12-interceptions in two season, compared to 37-touchdowns and also added 10-touchdowns on the ground and over 1,000 rushing yards. He’s done all this with fairly mediocre receiver talent and an offensive group often wrecked by injuries.

He must have surely exceeded Bills expectations since arriving from Baltimore where he was a career back-up. Yet the stats barely bought him any loyalty under Rex Ryan and those feelings have translated to a new coaching staff.

It’s hard to imagine what both Buffalo and Washington envision as they plan their quarterback rotation for 2017. Where is this next incarnation of Aaron Rodgers waiting in the draft or in free agency?

This year’s draft class sounds particularly mediocre and despite the annual Combine buzz driving the likes of Mitch Trubisky, Deshaun Watson and Deshaun Kizer up the draft board, all will be huge gambles and nothing suggests they can be 2017’s Dak Prescott.

Make no mistake, both players have flaws and ceilings, but even if their peaks aren’t at a truly dominant and transcendent level, teams can compete with decent quarterback play and Denver won a Super Bowl with Peyton Manning’s noodle arm leading their offence.

Teams never seem to be content with what they have and obviously win-losses force decisions and neither Buffalo or Washington made the playoffs in 2016. However, both teams have bigger issues than at quarterback and if they’re not careful they’ll be like 15 other franchises, going around in circles.

A moustachioed Nicholas Cage won’t be eying them off through the scope of his sniper rifle, but both the Redskins and the Bills need to tread carefully and avoid the spinning horses.